From the land of the rising sun we are treated yet again to some authentic Japanese mma. With freakshows (Minowaman vs Amriz) high level lighter weight bouts (Fernandez vs Hansen, Escovedo vs Maeda) and the fan favorite tune up fight (Barnett vs Mighty Mo). Legitimacy be damned, exciting and entertaining fights is what this all about so lets get to the picks.

Champ Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen (for DREAM featherweight title) : This should be an awesome and interesting fight, at 5′10 Hellboy will be a pretty big featherweight and coming off a loss to Aoki after a year long layoff from an injury, it’s nice to see the Norwegian Nightmare get back into the mix. But Bibiano is no joke, the man fought his ass off to get the belt going up against probably the toughest comp in the featherweight tournament. As a world champion bjj practitioner Fernandes has an advantage on the ground but Hellboy is no slouch on the mat either. If Hansen can outclass Fernandes on the feet and stays out of trouble on the ground. Hansen by Decision.

Josh Barnett vs. Siala “Mighty Mo” Siligia – How the mighty have fallen…no pun intended. Barnett by whatever he wants once he gets it to the ground

Cole Escovedo vs. Yoshiro Maeda – Remember those old looney tunes cartoon fights where two guys would stir up a dust cloud and all you would see is segments of limbs . This will be fun to watch but barring some slick jits action Yoshiro should be able to smash his way to victory. Maeda by TKO

Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Katsunori Kikuno – I can already hear Bas Rutten rejoicing as Kikuno crescent/liver kicks his way to victory. Kikuno by TKO

Andre “Dida” Amade vs. K.J. Noons – Expect a slobber knocker between a kick boxer and a boxer. Noons hasn’t fared too well with kick boxer in the past and Dida is kind of a one dimensional striker. Unless these guys have added some new tools to their arsenal, these guys are going to blast each other in the face until the first one falls. Flip a coin…but I’m guessing Dida will take it in the end Noons has been dicking around in boxing and hasn’t fought MMA since 2008.

Ryo Chonan vs. Andrews Nakahara – The last man to have a legit win over Anderson Silva vs a discount version of Lyoto Machida. Andrews may be too green for Chonan, but Chonan is all things considered totally beatable while still being far from can/chump status. This should be a very competitive fight. Chonan by split decision

Jimmy Ambriz vs. Ikuhisa Minowa – Token freakshow fight. Minowa by speedo power